I have had such a 2024 that I never really got all of my 2023 updates done. Oh well. My 2024 was, for lack of a better word, one helluva roller coaster ride of a year. In January I had high hopes for a cross country trip to Washington State to see my grandson Kade graduate from high school. Didn’t happen. Though I did have some great travel later in the year, it wasn’t what I had hoped for. But sometimes we cannot foresee things. That said, in 2024 I still was able to travel to 12 states and a good 5000 miles of travel.
January seemed to tell me that it was going to be a good year. January 1 started off with a good Bald Eagle sighting. And our Jacobson Park sightings of the very rare to Kentucky Limpkin (whom a group of photographers named “Limpy”) was still hanging around despite the cold. There will be more on this guy in a subsequent 2024 in review post about wildlife. There were also some lovely January sunrises, a couple of cold spells and snow. We even made it up to Ohio to go see our grandson play basketball and eat sushi!! But, the last day of January changed everything for me and had a profound impact on the remainder of the year.
On the morning of January 31 I had to be taken to the Emergency Room. I had been sick all night with an infection and had a high fever, a swollen leg and was not well at all. While in the ER, it was determined that I had a serious Cellulitis infection in my left leg and, ultimately, I had to be admitted to the hospital. What I had thought might only be a couple day stay turned into a 10 day ordeal and I think I was very lucky not to get sepsis. But, it did turn out to be very serious. On top of that, the infection also impacted my left knee and the doctor determined that I had bad arthritis in the knee and walking was going to be very difficult for a while. I came home with both a cane and a walker on February 9. It was a joy to see my sweet puppy Miles and rest in my brand new bed that provided me the ability to raise my head and/or legs. I had to get in home Physical Therapy and was homebound for a complete month. My desire to be outdoors with my dog and with nature was pretty much off limits until I was finally able to get out on March 9.
Overall, I had to take two weeks of sick leave from my work at ComicBook.com and the timing for this was also not very good. In mid-March, while I was still recovering, the mother company, Paramount/CBS, announced a major layoff of more than 1000 employees and I ended up being one of them. I had been with them and served diligently for six and a half years and was looking forward to hitting my seven year anniversary in September. It didn’t happen. Thankfully, they did provide a very good severance package which helped us get through. But my dark days of February and March illness continued on as I sought to recover from my illness and now had to spend time seeking new employment.
Fortunately, I tried to fend off depression and frustration by getting back outdoors and spent every morning outside with Miles in the car and seeking wildlife. I enjoyed many eagle sightings, got to watch the annual Osprey nest-building in a nearby cell tower, watched red-bellied woodpeckers build their nests in tree holes, enjoyed the early spring colors at the Lexington Cemetery with my wife and doggie and enjoyed some splendid sunrises. But, I also was still in recovery mode, tiring out quickly and was still having to go through PT.
I was grateful when in April rolled around. I was feeling better and was able to enjoy more mobility, despite having to use a cane, which I pretty much have had to use for stability throughout the entire year. I finally was in good enough shape to make a road trip with Julianne as I took her on a hiking trip to western Kentucky and then we continued west to Keller, Texas to visit my sister and witness the amazing Solar Eclipse on April 8. I had been counting on this road trip for over two years knowing that her house in Keller was perfectly situated for witnessing and photographing this stunning event. I had ordered my UV filter for the camera in 2023 and ordered those funky solar eclipse sunglasses as well. We were prepared. It was a fun trip, despite my mobility issues and watching the eclipse was fabulous. My wife had to fly back for work, so she left Miles and me in Texas. While there, I did my usual back roads exploring to numerous places and then made the long trip home. I say long trip, because I had to make stops for myself to rest and had to make stops for Miles at Dog Parks along the way. More on this trip and others in a later 2024 in Review post.
April and May went pretty well except for the struggle to find work. Having not had to search for a job for many years, I discovered that the job search climate had changed dramatically. And I also discovered that there were loads of “job search phishing scams” out there which made it all the more challenging. But, I pressed on and continued to use travel, photography and nature as a means of keeping me happy and upbeat.
In early May I took Julianne on another hiking adventure, this time to Charleston, West Virginia. While she hiked, I explored many places and had a good time with Miles. In mid-May we got to experience another very rare natural phenomenon in Lexington as the Aurora Borealis dropped south. Solar Flares were huge and we witnessed them twice. Though not as spectacular as up north, we still got to get a glimpse, even though we had to depend on our cell phones to capture what the naked eyes couldn’t see. Also, in May I was able to begin taking Miles to one of the local Dog Parks in Lexington. My bird watching declined and my dog watching kicked into high gear. It was (and continues to be) so much fun watching dogs socialize, play and do their things as they run free in the dog park. Over the course of the remainder of 2024, I found great joy in dogs. Many of the dogs would come over and greet me as I sat on the bench watching them. I probably got over 100 selfies with many of the dogs, not just with Miles. This turned out to be another major shift in my daily activities throughout the rest of the year. I didn’t get to Jacobson Park to see the sunrises or the birds or my photographer friends as often as I had hoped for. But, the friendly dogs, and many of their humans, became new friends, with new conversations around dogs, UK sports, nature and other things. A new world had opened up for me despite the other one narrowing down.
My out of town travels were not as great in number or distance as I had hoped, but I still made some trips. In June my wife left on a business trip. While she was gone, I mad a long-hoped for trip to Cades Cove in Tennessee in hopes of seeing and photographing my first-ever black bears. I was not disappointed as I saw bears and cubs. But getting any photos was a challenge. Once again, I’ll cover that in a later post. On this trip I had many other interesting adventures. We also made trips to Louisville and Frankfort that provided a few new adventures.
July still saw me in job search mode, but late in the month I got a call from out of the blue from my friend Louie Keen, the “Mayor” and owner of the Uranus Fudge Factory shops in St Robert, Missouri and Anderson, Indiana. He asked for my resume and then later offered me a position to do purchasing and some web work. As a travel writer and a huge fan of all things Uranus, it seemed like a dream job for me. It was fun and educational to be working on the inside and see the operations of these tourist attractions. On top of that, I was engaged in the opening of a third shop in Richmond, Indiana. in the later part of the year, mainly August and September, I made trips to the shops, learned the ropes, worked with Louie to help get things organized, etc. But, as luck would have it, Louie called me again late in October and informed me that he was having to let me go. It was not because of my work, but rather because he really needed to have someone on-site to do the work. It was cordial and he as very good to me about it. Nevertheless, it was a blow to me to be jobless again. Despite that, I will always be grateful to Louie for coming to my rescue, seeing my skills and trying to make it work out. I’ll have an entire Uranus post coming later this month as well.
With the Uranus job I had the opportunity for more travel. I also had the opportunity to travel with my sister a couple of times and even hit one of my bucket list places… Nowhere…. All of this to come.
The year ended up with me still looking for work, still with a bad knee and some frustrations. But, overall, the roller coaster year ended on a good note as I spent a couple of days in December making my trek up to Indiana to see the Sandhill Cranes and had some wonderful times with family over the holidays.
I am grateful for the kindness and grace of my Father in Heaven in helping get me through that year.
We’ll see how 2025 pans out.